


Magpie

by ohheichoumyheichou



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-12
Updated: 2014-07-12
Packaged: 2018-02-08 12:27:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1941069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohheichoumyheichou/pseuds/ohheichoumyheichou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eren's titan displays strange behavior during an experiment.  Hanji is delighted, while Levi hovers between alarm and disgust.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Magpie

**Author's Note:**

> Pica - the compulsive eating of material that may or may not be foodstuff. The material is often consumed in large quantities without regard for nutritional consequences. The medical term comes from the Latin for magpie (Pica pica), a bird that by folklore incessantly gathers objects to satiate its curiosity. Although it is a compulsive behavior, most adults with a pica do not have a psychologic disorder. The pica is usually a manifestation of an underlying medical condition, most often iron deficiency anemia.
> 
> Written for the snkkinkmeme prompt:  
> "I just want to see Titan Eren so hungry that he can't stand it/control himself. What does his start to eat? I'd prefer him not turning on the rest of Squad Levi. That's a bit too serious/dark for what I'm looking for. But I would like to see him devouring all other manner of things.  
> Bonus:  
> Hanji being Hanji.  
> Eren can't remember a damn thing.  
> Luminescent orange Titan barf ending up in Levi's room."

Nobody could pinpoint what exactly made the latest titan experiment go south. Hanji wanted Eren to demonstrate some manual dexterity in form, and he was following instructions, but was looking less and less interested.

"Hey, pay attention to her, Jaeger!" Levi finally said, scowling warily, hand subconsciously drifting down to his gear when he noticed the titan's gaze straying.

Instead of paying more attention, the titan dropped the task entirely and began running his hands over the ground. Hanji and Levi both watched, albeit with very different expressions, as Eren grabbed a handful of pebbles and sand, and deposited the dirt in his mouth.

"Did you see that?!" Hanji cried out, turning to a new page in her logbook to scribble down this novel observation.

"Absolutely disgusting," Levi muttered. "What are you doing, you stupid brat?"

Eren's green eyes shifted briefly over to his supervisors before scooping up yet more dirt.

Hanji grabbed her head in excitement, squealing. "Do you think... he's eating gravel to help his digestive system grind? Like a bird?"

"I don't see what he has to digest," Levi said flatly.

"Maybe titans have gizzards! Do you think I'd be able to open him up and see?"

"Shut up and make him stop. It's really revolting."

Eren watched them, grabbing the dirt faster and faster, chewing energetically, the sound of rocks between his teeth very strident and unnerving.

"I'm telling people to clear the area," Levi said. "I don't like this at all."

"Fine with me, just let me observe him some more," Hanji said, still scribbling.

"Don't get killed. If he doesn't stop, I'm cutting him out of there."

After instructing everyone out for practice to take shelter at headquarters, Levi headed back only to find Eren had moved on to eating out of a pile of limestone and grout that had been left over after they finished repairing the headquarters castle.

"Isn't this amazing?" Hanji cried out.

"Not really..." Levi muttered. "Looks like he's lost his mind."

"Eren!" Levi finally shouted, thinking maybe the first name would jolt this teenager back to his senses.

The titan turned toward him, seemingly listening, but he was still munching away.

"Stop putting shitty things in your mouth, idiot. You're going to get worms."

There was no reaction.

"Can a titan get worms?" Hanji asked.

"I don't want to find out," Levi said, still watching Eren.

"Maybe he's just low on minerals," Hanji mused. "Like all those people you hear about who came down with pica after Wall Maria fell because they were living on bread and potatoes. He probably grew up malnourished."

"Then give the kid some minerals after I cut him out," Levi said, brushing past her, unsheathing his blades.

Eren got up and started slinking away towards headquarters.

"Oh _now_ you stop," Levi muttered, following the titan as he headed towards the castle.

Eren kept looking down behind him, and Levi wondered if he was imagining a guilty look on that largely immobile monstrous face.

"Come back here, brat, don't go near there!" Levi shouted, flying himself up onto Eren's torso. "You hear what I said?" he repeated, now really close to the titan's pointy ear. He saw it flick, but Eren continued on his merry way toward the castle.

"Are you a mindless titan now or what? Listen when people give you orders!"

Hanji appeared next to him. "Don't cut him out yet, Levi, please, I need to see this, it could be the key to everything we don't understand about the titans."

"I somehow doubt that." Levi kicked the titan's neck. "Jaeger, I'll cut you out and make you clean the whole castle before your arms and legs grow back if you don't stop moving right now."

The titan groaned and did indeed stop and kneel down.

"Good," Levi said, rappelling to the ground. Eren stared at him, clacking his teeth. "And stop making dumb faces," Levi said. "Don't!" he shouted sternly when he saw Eren's hand scoop up a handful of dirt again.

"I wonder what's on his mind? Why is he doing this?" Hanji was thinking out loud, still perched on Eren's shoulder.

"Nothing's on his mind, that's the problem," Levi said, turning away in disgust as Eren shoveled the dirt into his mouth.

"Here!" Hanji said, suddenly excited, taking off her survey corps cloak and throwing it towards the titan's hand. "Is he going to eat cloth?"

Eren did indeed, licking his fingers.

"He's like a goat, he'll eat anything!" Hanji said, laughing.

"That uniform wasn't yours to destroy, four eyes," Levi groused. "And I don't know why you're encouraging him."

"What's the big deal, I just want to see what he will or won't eat," Hanji said defensively as Eren grabbed more dirt.

"If he ends up eating you, I'm giving him a medal of honor," Levi said. "Just tell me when you're done with this idiocy-- I feel like I'm getting stupider by just being a spectator."

He made the mistake of turning away in disgust. By the time he drew his blades out again in defense, Eren had already managed to pinch his Survey Corps cloak and pull it up over his head.

"Oh hell no!" Levi shouted. "That's mine!" but the dark green material was already between the titan's teeth.

Hanji was laughing hysterically as Levi zoomed up onto Eren's face, forcefully pulling his belonging back out. It was moist and ripped by the time Levi wrenched it away. Hanji was in tears, nearly losing her balance, especially as Eren began to walk again, making some kind of grumbling noise.

"I will seriously murder both of you," Levi said darkly, examining the damage to his article of clothing.

"You should have seen your face!" Hanji managed to splutter between laughing gasps.

Both squad leaders only realized how fast Eren had approached the castle when he began stripping off the slate shingles off the roof of one of the towers and swallowing them down.

"I think you're done for the day, Jaeger," Levi said, anchoring himself behind the vulnerable spot before slashing out the oval shape to retrieve Eren's human body. As he tried to yank Eren out of the titan connective tissue, the titan slumped forward. There was an ominous gurgling sound right before a torrent of the inedible material Eren had consumed came right back up, mixed in with steaming pungent digestive juices. It sprayed all over the courtyard, the walls, and into the windows of the castle that happened to be open-- either because Survey Corps members were curiously watching the whole thing transpire, or because, like Levi's room, they were being aired out during the day.

*********************

Eren woke up in bed, and tried to sit up only to find it pretty difficult. Most of his arms and legs were missing.

"I think Levi was angry with you and cut off more than necessary."

Eren turned to see Hanji sitting near his bed, contemplating him.

"Angry with me for what?"

Hanji smiled. "You don't remember anything?" When Eren shook his head, she pointed out the window. "Not even when you see that?"

"What's all that orange stuff all over the walls?" Eren asked eyes widening.

"You threw up," Hanji said, stifling a laugh when she saw how pale Eren grew. "That's how it dries."

"Captain is going to kill me..."

"You were pretty naughty today. I don't know when he'll speak to you again."

After Hanji recounted the course of events, she began to worry a little bit that the color in Eren's face would never come back again.

"My vomit got into Levi's room too?"

Hanji shrugged. "I haven't checked for myself, I just heard him storming around and others whispering about it, as if it's some tragedy."

Eren was biting his lip, and that was the only spot on his face that seemed to have any color anymore. "I have to... I have to clean all this up... just tell him I will do everything as soon as I'm healed, I'll sew him a new cloak... anything he wants..."

"You know how to sew?" Hanji asked, amused at his level of distress.

"I'll learn. Shit. Shit. I hate that I don't even remember what I did or why..."

"It's not like you hurt anyone," Hanji said, patting him on the shoulder. "It was an interesting thing to observe."

The door opened, and while Eren fully expected it to be Mikasa or Armin, it was Levi who walked in.

"Captain..." Eren mumbled, trying to shrink into the mattress. "I am so, so sorry..."

"Here, eat this, filthy brat," Levi said as he pulled up a chair to the bed, and made to spoon feed him.

"... What is it?" Eren said, half expecting the weird, dark thing in the bowl Levi was holding to be poison, but also knowing he probably had no choice but to eat it even if it was.

"Is that blood pudding, Levi?" Hanji asked, leaning over.

"Didn't you say it was a sign he needed minerals or something?" Levi muttered, pushing the spoon into Eren's mouth and Eren making no protest, even though it tasted strange. "Because I'm not letting this happen again."

"I will clean your room out until it's spotless, I promise," Eren said between mouthfuls.

"It's not my room anymore," Levi muttered angrily, shoving another spoonful into Eren's mouth.


End file.
